Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

Fingernails disfigured?

My right hand thumbnail is gross. It is raised in a horizontal wavy way like speed bumps. My other thumb and 2 fingernails have slight raised wavy areas too but hardly noticeable. My GP said this is not uncommon in someone who had a lung event.

I hate my nails and hands, so I avoid looking at them at all costs, but yes, my thumb nails have developed these really pronounced ridges and I've got some lesser ridges on a few other nails.

Between the continuing hair loss and the weird nails, I'm quite the vision of loveliness. At least I can count on my decent personality. But even that's getting a little questionable. I CANNOT WAIT TO BE OFF COUMADIN. Ok, it's not that bad. But some days, I just want to be a cool chick with decent hair who's not picking lettuce off her sandwiches.

I have noticed my nails now have the horizontal waves. Oh well--one more thing to add to the list of &quot;fun from PE&quot;. I do want to comment on rmb regarding hair loss--is this something to look forward to from being on coumadin as well? Please say it isn't so..I already had thinning hair before being on coumadin--I don't need any help in that area!

Hair loss was one of the potential side effects listed when I got the drug materials while in the hospital. I dont know that it impacts everyone on warfarin, but it started for me a few weeks after I went on the drug. It seems to have gotten progressively worse every time they up the dosage. I'm up to 15mgs a day due to consistently low INR and within the last two weeks, I am seeing clumps of hair on my pillow, in my towel, my hands when I rinse shampoo out of my hair. I am starting to be able to see my scalp through my hair in some places. I used to make fun of bald guys who couldnt accept their hair loss and just own it. Karma is a funny thing

I have no idea if my hair will grow back once I'm off the coumadin. I dont know if theres anything I can do to stop it right now. I do know it's so shallow and superficial to be affected by this but I just feel so entirely unattractive right now. Its not that Im a beauty queen by any stretch of the imagination, but I want to look like myself at some point again and feel comfortable with who I am physically. My husband thinks I look fine, but honestly, since the PE, I feel gross, most of which is psychological, Im sure, but bald spots aint helping the situation.

Supposedly, I'm off coumadin the beginning of March. I get tested next Monday to see if being on 15mgs for the last three weeks finally bumps my INR up past 2. Its amazing that since the end of September, shortly after my PE, I have never had an INR above 2. So, this is like the final push to obtain therapeutic levels. If my INR is still low, they may take me off of the coumadin all together because they said they will not prescribe me more than 15mgs a day. If they take me off, then they need to figure out if I'm close enough to my 6 months post PE where no drug is needed or if they'll give me something else (Lovenox maybe?) for the last few weeks. All will be revealed.

I feel like such a jerk for worrying about my hair. And for feeling sorry for myself. I mean, SERIOSLY. I guess its all just part mourning who you used to be. You guys are wonderful to put up with my whining and my ridiculously long posts!

rmb, have you had a repeat ct? are your clots gone? Just wondering. and about the hair loss its totally understandable!! I was on coumadin a month and I lost lots of hair! So I understand. I was freaking about it!! Well anyways good luck with the INR and hopefully it will be fine!!

No clots since the TPA that I took in the hospital blew them all to smithereens. I also had a follow up CT in November, two months after the PE, and the CT showed no new clots, even though my INR levels were not therapeutic.

The dr. is pretty confident the clots are from BC pills (all testing showed nothing genetic), so now that I'm off of those, the risk for reoccurrence is less than if I had some kind of genetic issue. That's why they may consider taking me off the Coumadin all together at this point, even though Im not quite at 6 months.

Thanks for understanding about the hair. I had no idea how much of my identity was tied up in that part of my body. I actually did a Donald Trump swirl with my hair the other day to try to cover up my receding hair line. I thought to myself, you have reached a new low, sister. It's time to suck it up, quite the whining and accept this. Ugh...

FYI, make sure you get one without Vita K, maybe that's what were missing and causing all the ridges, mine too! However, I also notice my nails are stronger and grow faster, but I have ridges on my left thumb, very weird. Ditto with the hair thing, driving me nuts, I'm constantly taking clumps of hair out of the drain!

Tumbling,
Brittle and lined nails are side effects of anti-coagulants, as are brittle hair, hair loss, and black lines under nails. Iron defiency is a common issue that can cause they side effects while being anti-coagulated. The best iron supplement is red meat, black beans, black rice, etc. They are all high in iron. Iron is best absorbed in the intestines from the foods we eat. The next best is in supplements. Low iron and low white blood cell count go hand in hand and can lead to anemia. It is possible to reverse these side effects with iron. However, this is only a begiining of longer-term complications of anti-coagulants.
Thin black splinter lines on nails are due to broken capilaries. It may be a sign that you are being over anti-coagulated. This can be adjusted to lessen the effect.
I hope this is useful information.
Katherine

Tumblingnan,
I should also mention that our nails show major events. Mine began showing white patches as I experienced repeated strokes and embolism. I am not certain but I think lack of blood flow to any area of the body is the major event.
Katherine

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